1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ceramic electronic component and a method for manufacturing the ceramic electronic component, and particularly to a ceramic electronic component such as a laminated ceramic capacitor or a laminated ceramic inductor, for example, and a method for manufacturing such a ceramic electronic component.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as electronic devices such as portable telephones, portable music players, and the like have decreased in size and thickness, ceramic electronic components mounted on such electronic devices also rapidly continue to decrease in size and thickness. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2012-222276, for example, discloses a laminated-type capacitor whose length dimension L is 1.0 mm, width dimension W is 5.0 mm, and thickness dimension T (height dimension H) is 0.15 mm. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-40635 discloses a ceramic electronic component such as a laminated ceramic capacitor or the like, wherein external electrodes are arranged on an element in which internal electrodes are provided in a ceramic material so as to be electrically continuous with the internal electrodes.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2012-222276 described above, when a height dimension H of the laminated-type capacitor is extremely thin, the area of the internal electrodes is small, and the number of the laminated internal electrodes is also small. As a result, the equivalent series resistance (ESR) of the main body of the laminated-type capacitor increases, which is problematic.
Furthermore, the external electrodes of the laminated ceramic capacitor typically contain a glass component. As disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-40635 described above, for example, during firing of the external electrodes, a glass frit contained in the external electrodes may react with the ceramic component of the ceramic main body, which may cause a reaction layer between the glass and the ceramic to be formed at an interface between the external electrodes and the ceramic main body. If such a reaction layer is formed at the interface between the ceramic main body and the external electrodes, the bonded area between the internal electrodes and the external electrodes may be hindered by the glass in the reaction layer, making the above-described problem of an increased ESR more noticeable.
Furthermore, prior to the formation of the external electrodes, the laminated-type capacitor is typically subjected to treatment in which end surfaces of the ceramic main body are subjected to barrel polishing for exposing the internal electrodes. However, since the laminated-type capacitor with the small height dimension H can easily develop a crack or a chip, it cannot be sufficiently subjected to the treatment for exposing the internal electrodes. It is thus difficult to provide a sufficient bonded area between the internal electrodes and the external electrodes in the laminated-type capacitor with the small height dimension H.